SAN MARCOS – After working the graveyard shift at a Little Italy hotel, Randy Asuria willingly postponed bedtime so he could drive north to spend a few hours wrestling with complex fractions and advanced geometry.

As morning turned into afternoon, Asuria remained in his California State University San Marcos classroom and beamed the kind of smile that comes with new knowledge.

Despite a lifetime of struggling with math – and failing – he now has graphic proof that he is no dope.

Asuria pointed to a computer showing his skyrocketing math scores. "Look at this: I used to be terrible at word problems, now I'm 81 out of 86," he said. "I started jumping up and down when I saw this. If I can do this, it seems like nothing is impossible now."

He is one step closer to his dream of becoming a teacher because of an experimental program launched this year at Cal State San Marcos and run by David Barsky, associate vice president of academic affairs. Barsky, a former math professor, is so passionate about his field and his experiment that he is teaching the program.

Nearly 40 percent of freshmen on California State University campuses started college unable to perform college-level math.

The Cal State system gives its subpar freshmen 15 months to get the remedial help they need to pass the Entry Level Math, or ELM, which determines whether they are proficient. If they don't pass – and an estimated 6 percent to 14 percent don't – they're expelled.

The CSU system offers students remediation programs in a variety of subjects, at a cost of $10 million a year, with varying success.

At San Marcos, where the percentage of freshmen below proficiency is higher than the CSU average, Barsky is trying an approach he said is new in the CSU remediation repertoire.

The program itself isn't different: He has organized an intensive study tutorial with 20 students. What is different, he said, is the population. Tutorials usually take students who are the closest to passing the ELM.

"That's too conservative," Barsky said.

Instead, he drew from the opposite end of the spectrum, those furthest from passing the proficiency test. Students meet at 8 a.m. every weekday for two hours over five weeks, paying $84 for the non-credit course and the chance to pass the test before the fall semester.

His theory is that the effort is better spent on this population because these students have nowhere to go but up. No matter what they score in the exam at the end of August, they'll be further ahead, and less remediation saves both student and university money.

Embarrassed by the rising number of college students unable to do college-level work in the basics, CSU system officials have declared war on the remediation gap. The goal is to lower the remediation rate to 10 percent by 2007.

But so far, the problem remains stubborn and their efforts have been mixed. Remediation rates for entering freshmen have fluctuated between 40 percent and 50 percent during the past six years.

San Diego State University, the largest school in the 23-campus system, has lowered its rate in the past two years. About 23 percent of freshmen needed extra help in math.

Tougher enrollment standards are credited with the lower rate; because of severe crowding, the university is requiring higher academic standards for many incoming students.

At Cal State San Marcos, 47 percent needed help in math, based on figures released earlier this year.

At the 7,000-student campus, Barsky brought in what he hopes will be the secret weapon for solving the remediation problem: a computer program that thinks.

Developed through the University of California system and funded in part by the National Science Foundation, the program, called ALEKS, uses artificial intelligence that can pinpoint students' mathematic strengths and weaknesses and tutor each student individually.

Also, the program offers an "explain" button if students get hung up on a problem or need a theory explained.

Barsky and a graduate student weaved through the room during a recent session providing encouragement as the students worked independently. "Let me work on this with you," Barsky said to incoming freshman Tamara Casillas as she stumbled with complex fractions.

"No, it's too scary," said Tamara, 17, who nevertheless, with ALEKS and Barsky at her side, solved a multitiered fraction stacked eight levels high and moved on to another complex fraction.

For Asuria, he can pinpoint the moment he became math-phobic.

"It was third grade and I had moved schools a lot and I had this teacher who put me up in front of the class on my first day and humiliated me. From then on, I couldn't do it."

Now 32, Asuria has spent years working full time at a hotel in Little Italy. He has attended community colleges, San Diego State and this fall is transferring to Cal State San Marcos. And for the first time, he feels confident.

"I'd get all these books and study on my own. I even do the books at the hotel but I couldn't get it, until this," said Asuria, who despite his need for sleep stayed behind after class to keep working.